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afternoon.”
    After collecting Noelle and checking in with
Sandy, Nash ran to catch up with Teddy.
    “ Teddy!”
    Teddy was walking down the hallway with his
massive guardian. The boy turned around in the hall.
    “ I can help you catch up. With
school,” Nash said. “We have this whole weekend. Sandy’s working
every day but tomorrow. That means we’ll be at the Castle. Why
don’t you see if you can come over? I can help.”
    Smiling, Teddy nodded.
    “ Great! They have our number,”
Nash said. “Give me a call on Friday.”
    ~~~~~~~~
    Wednesday evening — 5:00
P.M.
    The day before
Thanksgiving
     
    “ You don’t want the baby,” Honey’s
therapist said.
    “ No. No. I want the baby,” Honey
said. “I don’t know how it will work. I mean, I can barely take
care of myself. Steve bathes me, helps me go to the bathroom… How
am I going to care for a baby? When I can’t …”
    “ Even care for
yourself?”
    “ Yeah,” Honey said. “I don’t mind
living at the Castle. I mean everyone’s really great. Nice. MJ
loves it there. He feels like I’m safe because everyone will help.
But… I need to care for myself, my baby, my life. And… I
can’t.”
    “ You have a job. You pay your own
bills. You…”
    “ I pay some of my bills,” Honey
said. “Jake and the insurance company pick up the tab for most of
it. MJ’s salary goes to his brother and sister, or most of it
anyway.”
    Honey fell silent.
    “ You were talking about the baby,”
her therapist said.
    “ I feel stupid. I almost died. I
easily could have died. And now there’s this new life… inside of
me… and…”
    “ I think it’s very normal to feel
overwhelmed. Most mothers feel that way.”
    “ Mother,” Honey snorted. “Even the
word is foreign.”
    “ You can abort the baby, Honey.
The doctor said you might be better off to wait. It’s only been a
short time since… your injury.”
    “ Since my life was tipped upside
down? I was going to go to college in September. I was going to
work and go to college. Live in my little apartment.”
    “ Instead, you married a man you’ve
loved since you were a young child. Remember, you thought you’d
never see MJ again. You live with your brother in an almost fantasy
house filled with love and support. You have lots of friends and
work you like. And now you’re going to have a baby.”
    “ And this.” Honey’s crippled hands
gestured to her paralyzed legs.
    “ What’s got your goat, Honey?” Her
therapist pointed to Honey’s legs. “You’ve told me over and over
again that your injury was the best thing that happened to
you.”
    “ My sister’s trial is coming up,”
Honey said.
    “ You have to testify
soon.”
    “ I have to testify to
everything.”
    “ Everything?”
    “ Mostly what our childhood was
like. My lovely sister’s defense is that she didn’t know any better
because she was abused.”
    “ Was she?”
    “ She did most of the abusing. Now
she says this was a one time event.”
    “ Which it’s not.”
    “ No. No. She’s always been like
that. They’re hoping the jury will believe me over her. But no
one’s ever believed me over her.”
    “ That’s a lot of
pressure.”
    “ Pressure? Yeah. Makes me wish I
was never born.”
    ~~~~~~~~
Wednesday night – 7:30 P.M.
    The day before
Thanksgiving
     
    Laughing at Katy and Paddie’s re-creation of
their martial arts lesson, Jill went toward the Castle side door to
answer the bell. Aden yelled something and she turned to look at
him. Everyone was happy, light and excited about the Thanksgiving
holiday. It was a Castle tradition to host a small dessert party.
In Castle style, that meant small desserts and not a small sized
party.
    Expecting another friend, Jill opened the
door.
    “ Who might you be?” The thin
little man asked.
    Glancing to see if the gate was closed, she
shook her head at the man.
    “ Jillian Roper Marlowe? Or Heather
Lipson? Or Honey Lipson-Scully? I know you’re not